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Elite: Dangerous - E3 2014 trailer
- Thread starter -SD-
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Probably the most underrated game at E3. Shame PC gaming doesn't get more love there.
Everyone is just looking more forward to SC than Elite it seems like.
Did some combat missions with a gamepad (no Rift, couldn't be bothered yet). It works, but is sub optimal.
Ideal will definetly be DK2+HOTAS.
Where you can freely look around; been able to see enemy targets and their orientation outside of your forward FOV without wrestling with the controls is a massive massive boon - allows you to move your ship in response to where you think there'll be.
Also, the throttle is very much useful for easily setting speed; because the speed gauge is on the console, rather than up on the HUD - trying to adjust it in the middle of a dog fight is a trying task; but you have to do it, otherwise you can't fight. UI could be much improved in that respect.
Otherwise, I'm really starting to feel it. Really liking the weapon balancing. Cept gimballed weapons are really OP relative to non-gimbals. Like the kind of difference between a 'sim' and an 'arcade' space shooter.
That's their loss. People will the taste in finer things will know what's up.
Woah... That's amazing! IGN didn't even include them in their Best of E3 online voting form!
Edit: Just checking the Escapist website, it seems it's not THE best of E3, it's ONE of the 30 best of E3. Still, awesome!
Ray Wonder
Founder of the Wounded Tagless Children
I'm glad all these spaceship games are coming out. A lot could be done with the Oculus.
That was me before E3.
After watching the E3 demos, I'm now on team Elite.
Well... team both, I backed both, but I'm more excited for Elite now.
Probably the most underrated game at E3. Shame PC gaming doesn't get more love there.
they should have handcrafted a fifteen second unplayable clip and signed a 36 hour DLC exclusivity deal one of the console manufacturer, then have some rep mutter something about 60fps/1080p which has no bearing on the final product.
i didn't pay much attention to elite until footage of the second alpha came out, now its clear that its realising much of what most excited me about star citizen while the latter is still in an embryonic state.
i'm not even sure how this became an either/or thing.
I love how that station design in the trailer is so similar to the BBC Micro game:
Ha! Now that's something I haven't seen in a LONG time. I remember getting it on the speccy and feeling like I was some awesome intergalactic pilot.
Good times!
glimmerman
Member
I skipped a few days of school back in the 80's to play this... might skip a few more this year to strap on a Cobra again 
Looking forward to seeing the final version, everything so far points to "excellent"
Looking forward to seeing the final version, everything so far points to "excellent"
Oppo
Member
I love how that station design in the trailer is so similar to the BBC Micro game:
my jaw dropped when I saw that
it's like they took what was going on in my 10 year old head
and made that game
I haven't tested a 360 pad since I think it would require me to remove all of my bindings but I read that it works well enough. It doesn't have enough buttons to handle all of the useful functions but very few sticks do. Gotta play controller + keyboard.
Each phase of the alpha/beta lowers the price, so once the 'premium beta' is over and the regular beta starts it should drop to £50.
Hmm ok thx for the info
Dictator93
Member
You may want a HOTAS too. I know for certain that I shall pick up one soon.
Debating between x52 and x55. The only reasonably priced and well suported ones from what I can see.
Buggy Loop
Member
Not supposed to happen. I admit i havent put much time into premium beta but i remember it didnt toggle off in alpha. Does it say rigged for silent running when you enable it? What makes it toggle off?
Charleston
Neo Member
Saw this, and it looked good! Have been looking at videos online about it, got me all giddy. Will look into keeping a close eye on this!
I choose not to choose!
#Team_Space&Atmosphere
I'm going to have so many games to play when CV1 finally arrives.
Enemy Starfighter belongs. It's the space based sequel to Uprising which was a perfectly cromulent future-tank sim.
Shallow Space I just posted because it was a new video and
was my exact reaction after watching it.
Mouse/KB forever.
(No, seriously, if it controls anything like Freelancer did I'll be more than happy with mouse/kb)
In a YouTube video someone mentioned October which seems a bit late to get off Premium Beta. In any case, that would be too late for me and I might just jump on this when I upgrade my videocard and get the DK2. All I keep hearing is that this is so far the best and most polished experience on the Rift.
Add to that, Braben stated that they'll have a new build up for when DK2 launches to take advantage of positional tracking. It's immersive already and they're taking it even further!
Seriously, this game is just hitting all the right marks for me.
I just edited my controll setup and now it works.
The flying is hard as fuck or I just need to fine tune my controlls...
Also, launching from station? Death trap.
Love it.
Teknopathetic
Member
"(No, seriously, if it controls anything like Freelancer did I'll be more than happy with mouse/kb)"
It doesn't control anything like Freelancer.
It doesn't control anything like Freelancer.
That sucks. I read up on it and it seems like some people are insisting that spacecraft in a vacuum should control like fighter planes in WW2.
Been playing a few hours today.
Flight model is a shit load of fun.
Other than poor target indicator and target acquisition, it's probably one of the best combat systems I've encountered in a space sim.
Maybe improvable via limited directional boost for jinking purposes?
What kind of player uses M+K for space sims?
Get yourself a nice cheap T.Flight HOTAS X, which should be about the same price as the uber-reliable Logitech Extreme 3D Pro. You might have a hard time landing using a Gamepad. I suggest a control scheme that best mimics a cockpit of a spaceship.
Highly recommended you at least get a joystick setup, even if it's just a stick with a small throttle notch (Extreme 3D Pro is about $30. Was able to find T.Flight HOTAS X for the same price too in Microcenter).
Space sims are not FPSs in space, and play nothing like turrent shooters a.k.a. Freelancer style. Also M+K pretty much killed PC gaming for me...until the recent resurgence of space sims made me hop back in again.
Flightsticks/HOTAS for life!
I don't see why "planes in space" is inherently more valid than "FPS in space".
There is no reason at all for a spacecraft to control like a plane.
Well, in this case, it is valid. Frontier: Elite II had planitary landing and take off, so it makes sense there are controls such as pitch, yaw, roll and throttle when there are atmospheric dogfights. (Elite: Dangerous have planned planetary landings as part of its expansions following in the heels of its predecessor.)
Besides, there's the whole thing about how space sims were inspired Star Wars dogfighting sequences, so there's that too. That makes joysticks lend themselves naturally
to this kind of genre, and hence control method.
There's a whole lot of HOTAS vs. M+K debate especially with the likes of War Thunder and whatnot.
I can see the point when you are in an atmosphere, especially in a game like War Thunder. However, for space combat, I really like Star Citizen's approach (despite its current shortcomings). Simulate the physical effect of each thruster on your ship, and provide as good a mapping from any given control method to those thrusters as possible.
You can do that too with a HOTAS setup, in fact much more intuitively too. Better than trying to emulate each thruster with a clunky WASD, you have hat switches, an analog throttle, and analog control for both yaw, pitch, and roll (the last one being especially important when it comes to docking on space stations). Not to mention an F'ton of buttons to use as shortcuts for the different panels and commonly used macros (like landing gear, hardpoints, silent running, etc.).
So far I like E
s fly-by-wire model: It give you a little bit of momentum to play with, allowing you to pull off manuvers like the ones you see in the Battlestar Galactica Reimagined serie with the Vipers.Teknopathetic
Member
"There is no reason at all for a spacecraft to control like a plane."
Fun. Something Freelancer lacked in its dogfights.
Fun. Something Freelancer lacked in its dogfights.
I'm not talking about controlling the thrusters manually. I'm talking about the game taking whatever input methods you use and generating thruster inputs from that. E.g. I point my mouse there, and then the ship will work on pointing there as fast as possible. Or I pull my flightstick back, and the ship will fire all applicable thrusters such that it turns up as fast as possible.
This approach should make the game playable with whatever input method you chose, as well as that input method supports. And since it's all based on the physical properties of the thrusters and each ship, it also levels the playing field.
This approach should make the game playable with whatever input method you chose, as well as that input method supports. And since it's all based on the physical properties of the thrusters and each ship, it also levels the playing field.
That's purely subjective.
As I said, the space sim genre is not an FPS in space...unless they explicitly put on foot shooter segments in it.
When you ride a ship, there's a different feel and handle to it than just some regular point and shoot affair; its learning to haul that tin can and perform superb moves with it that makes part of the fun (hence "piloting skills"). That's what makes game like Descent so much fun, too. That, and learning to exploit full 3D space to your advantage.
Not in this case. Space sims have a certain appeal and ]feel to them. To boil them back into just another FPS-like mechanic would kill that appeal, and make it less, if no longer fun.
It is possible to map every single thruster to your keyboard if you prefer to do so, but again, using your mouse to turn might get you in a bit of disadvantage, as joysticks input a direct movement as opposed to a relative response to where you point your cursor.
I simply don't like the idea that a spaceship handles like a plane (or a "tin can" as you put it). Sure, it shouldn't turn immediately -- there is such a thing as inertia -- but e.g. your current velocity vector should be immaterial to your ability to turn in any direction. There's no aerodynamics involved.
It's not at all "another FPS" just because you don't put aerodynamics in a vacuum. You have inertia, and even more importantly you still have a true 3-dimensional space. It's completely different.
Teknopathetic
Member
"That's purely subjective."
And so? If the designers happen to feel the same way then it's a perfectly valid reason for the spacecraft to control like they do. I'd argue the opposite: there's no reason for them to use what we might assume would be "realistic" in several decades/centuries if they feel it's less fun.
" but e.g. your current velocity vector should be immaterial to your ability to turn in any direction. There's no aerodynamics involved."
In this regard, I seem to have misled you. You can turn off "flight assist" which makes your ship retain inertia/velocity from thrusters. This includes rotation, your ship will continue rotating until you apply counter thrust.
And so? If the designers happen to feel the same way then it's a perfectly valid reason for the spacecraft to control like they do. I'd argue the opposite: there's no reason for them to use what we might assume would be "realistic" in several decades/centuries if they feel it's less fun.
" but e.g. your current velocity vector should be immaterial to your ability to turn in any direction. There's no aerodynamics involved."
In this regard, I seem to have misled you. You can turn off "flight assist" which makes your ship retain inertia/velocity from thrusters. This includes rotation, your ship will continue rotating until you apply counter thrust.
I understand the notion. The problem is being able to aim your ship where you want to all the time despite your motion and inertia. Without the concept of "struggling" to point your ship in the right direction and and fire would turn the game into a turrent shooter based affair. Imagine if you can just strafe away at all your targets and can just suddenly change direction when needed too: It would kill half the fun of what makes a space sim a space sim (which is essentially flying a plane and dogfighting in space). Even with the lack of aerodynamics, you still have to struggle with momentum, and even with fly-by-wire in place it shouldn't be that easy.
Turin Turambar
Member
Uh?
All the space sims I played, like Freespace 2 or Iwar2, handled like that. There was no struggle to point the ship where I wanted.
To be completely realistic, you have to factor in the immense gravity force from the planet as well. At those speeds, turning could fuck up with your centripal acceleration leaving you prone to spiraling out of control.
Yeah, i also think this approach is more fitting, at least for Star Citizen, because they can expand it easily and having everything physics based will affect on ship FPS combat.
---
People are looking at Elite, its just too expensive right now.
And Star Citizen cater more to EVE Online audience, so thats that.
Freespace 2 perhaps. But with I-War you had to struggle with Newtonian physics, and mapping overriding thrusters helped alot during those sugements where you needed to dogfight.
Now imagine they added straffing to Freespace 2. Now that would've entirely killed the dynamics of the game right there.
Turin Turambar
Member
From what i remember, you had to struggle to turn the direction of the ship as the speed of the ship in one direction wouldn't magically disappear (inertia), but not problems in turning the ship itself.
FantasticMrFoxdie
Mumber
Damn. Looks pretty cool
That's what I meant. You had to struggle with the physics. Tunring shouldn't be like an FPS too i.e. it shouldn't be instantaneous.